{{Short description|Georgian online news media}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Netgazeti.ge<br />{{lang|ka|ნეტგაზეთი}} | logo = Netgazeti.ge Logo.png | logo_size = | logo_caption = | motto = | type = News Media | owner = Gazeti Batumelebi LLC<ref name="bia.ge">{{cite web |language=en |title=Newspaper Batumelebi | website=bia.ge |url=https://www.bia.ge/EN/Company/14976 | access-date =2025-02-03}}</ref> | founders = Mzia Amaglobeli, Eter Turadze | general_manager = Mzia Amaglobeli | chief_editor = Eter Turadze<ref name="NPLG">{{cite web |language=ka |title=გაზეთი ბათუმელები | website=National Parliamentary Library of Georgia |url=http://www.nplg.gov.ge/paperge/ka/browse/003973/ | access-date =2025-02-03}}</ref> | editor = | deputy_editor = | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | news_editor = | founded = {{Start date and age|2010}}<ref name="mediameter">{{cite web |language=ka |title=ნეტგაზეთი | website=mediameter.ge |url=https://mediameter.ge/ge/media-profiles/netgazeti | access-date =2025-02-03}}</ref> | language = Georgian, Russian<ref name="Netgazeti Russian" /> | headquarters = Tbilisi, Georgia | sister_newspapers = ''Batumelebi''<ref name="bia.ge" /> | website = {{URL|https://netgazeti.ge|netgazeti.ge}}<br>{{URL|https://ru.netgazeti.ge|ru.netgazeti.ge (Russian)}} }}
'''Netgazeti''' is an independent Georgian online media outlet established in 2010 by journalists Mzia Amaghlobeli and {{ill|Eter Turadze|ka|ეთერ თურაძე}}, who had previously founded the newspaper Batumelebi in 2001. The establishment of Netgazeti was intended to extend its journalistic coverage beyond Batumi and Adjara, reaching a national audience. The outlet focuses on politics, human rights, social issues, and investigative journalism.<ref name="BBC geo media">{{cite web |language=en |title=Georgia media guide | website=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17303294 |date=2024-10-25 | access-date =2025-02-03}}</ref>
==Overview== Netgazeti has been recognized for its critical reporting and in-depth analysis of government policies and regional developments. In 2015, the outlet received the European Press Prize. This award is given to those publications that, according to the German Zeit-Stiftung and the Norwegian Foundation for Freedom of Expression, "are not afraid of censorship and repression."<ref name="European Press Prize 2009">{{cite web |language=en |title=Pressure on Georgian 'Batumelebi' newspaper | website=Human Rights House |date =2009-12-02 | url=https://humanrightshouse.org/letters/pressure-on-georgian-batumelebi-newspaper/ | access-date = 2025-02-03}}</ref><ref name="European Press Prize 2015">{{cite web |language=ka |title=ნეტგაზეთი 2015 წლის პრესის ევროპული ჯილდოს მფლობელი გახდა | website=Batumelebi.ge |date =2015-03-09 | url=https://batumelebi.netgazeti.ge/news/9911/ | access-date = 2025-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818195140/https://batumelebi.netgazeti.ge/news/9911/ |archive-date= 2022-08-18 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Russian-language version=== In 2020, after a two-month testing phase, Netgazeti officially launched its Russian-language version. A significant portion of the content published by the websites of LLC Gazeti Batumelebi, Batumelebi and Netgazeti, became available in Russian, accessed from the website homepage.
According to Batumelebi's director, Mzia Amaghlobeli, the initiative aims to improve access to information for Georgia's non-Georgian-speaking citizens, including ethnic minorities, residents of conflict regions, and the broader South Caucasus. She also expressed hope that additional language versions would be introduced in the future.<ref name="Netgazeti Russian">{{cite web |language=ka |title=ნეტგაზეთმა რუსულ ენაზეც დაიწყო ახალი ამბების გაშუქება | website=Netgazeti.ge |url=https://netgazeti.ge/news/486604/ |date=2024-10-01 | access-date =2025-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240525105326/https://netgazeti.ge/news/486604/|archive-date= 2024-05-25 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Censorship and Discrimination=== Over the years, Netgazeti, alongside Newspaper Batumelebi has faced discrimination, political pressure, intimidation, and harassment from government-affiliated individuals and groups, both during the rule of the United National Movement and the Georgian Dream.<ref name="RFERL 2009">{{cite web |language=ka |title=გაზეთ "ბათუმელების" მიმართვას უკვე მოჰყვა რეაქცია | website=radiotavisupleba.ge Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Georgia |date=2009-12-05 | url=https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/1895414.html | access-date = 2025-02-04}}</ref><ref name="csf. ge 2020">{{cite web |language=ka |title=მედიაკოალიცია "გაზეთი ბათუმელების" და "ნეტგაზეთის" დისკრედიტაციის მცდელობებს ეხმიანება | website=csf.ge |date=2020-06-09 | url=https://csf.ge/mediakoalicia-gazeti-batumelebis-da-netgazetis-diskreditaciis-mcdelobebs-ekhmianeba/ | access-date =2025-02-04}}</ref><ref name="Netgazeti 2025">{{cite web |language=ka |title="ბათუმელებისა" და ნეტგაზეთის განცხადება | website=Netgazeti.ge |date=2025-01-13 | url=https://netgazeti.ge/life/759634/ | access-date =2025-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129024527/https://netgazeti.ge/life/759634/|archive-date= 2025-01-29 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Netgazeti 2024">{{cite web |language=ka |title=ბათუმელების რედაქტორი შალვა პაპუაშვილს: ვერ მოგვაწებებთ აგენტის იარლიყს | website=Netgazeti.ge |date=2024-04-25 | url=https://netgazeti.ge/news/719728/ | access-date =2025-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240510091117/https://netgazeti.ge/news/719728/|archive-date= 2024-05-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The media outlet angered Russian authorities, receiving the status of "an organization disseminating anti-Russian propaganda" and was banned in Russia. In 2022, Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor blocked the Russian-language versions of Netgazeti and Batumelebi.<ref name="Formula News Russian block">{{cite web |language=ka |title=რუსეთში ნეტგაზეთის რუსულენოვანი გამოცემა დაბლოკეს | website=Formulanews.ge |date =2022-04-12 | url=https://formulanews.ge/News/რუსეთში_ნეტგაზეთის_რუსულენოვანი_გამოცემა_დაბლოკეს/68540 | access-date =2025-01-29}}</ref><ref name="Netgazeti Russian block">{{cite web |language=ka |title=რუსეთში "ნეტგაზეთის" რუსულენოვანი ვერსია დაბლოკეს | website=Netgazeti.ge |date =2022-04-12 | url=https://netgazeti.ge/life/604978/ | access-date =2025-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123164639/https://netgazeti.ge/life/604978/ |archive-date= 2025-01-23 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===2025 Events=== {{See also|Mzia Amaglobeli|2024–2025 Georgian protests|2024–2025 Georgian political crisis}}
On 12 January 2025, one of the founders and a director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, Mzia Amaghlobeli, was arrested on charges of "assaulting" Batumi head of police, Irakli Dgebuadze, during a protest in Batumi. This arrest has been widely perceived as part of a broader crackdown on independent media in Georgia. In response, embassies of 14 member countries of the Media Freedom Coalition issued a joint statement demanding her immediate release, expressing concern over the intimidation of journalists in Georgia.<ref name="oc-media">{{cite web |language=en |title=Coalition of 14 embassies demand Amaghlobeli's immediate release |website=oc-media.org |date =2025-01-31 | url=https://oc-media.org/coalition-of-14-embassies-demand-amaghlobelis-immediate-release/ | access-date = 2025-02-03}}</ref><ref name="Tavisupleba 2025">{{cite web |language=ka |title=ბათუმში დააკავეს საპროტესტო აქციის ათამდე მონაწილე, მათ შორის "გაზეთ ბათუმელების" დირექტორი |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Georgia |date =2025-01-11 | url=https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/33272422.html | access-date = 2025-02-04}}</ref> {{As of|2025|02|04}}, Amaglobeli has been on a hunger strike since her arrest. According to her, this is a protest against injustice.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://civil.ge/archives/656063|title=GYLA: Amaghlobeli's Life in Danger, Urgent Action Needed|website=Civil Georgia}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |date=23 January 2025 |title=ადვოკატის თქმით, მზია ამაღლობელი შიმშილობის შეწყვეტას არ აპირებს |trans-title=Lawyer says Mzia Amaglobeli has no intention of ending hunger strike |url=https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%96%E1%83%98%E1%83%90-%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90%E1%83%A6%E1%83%9A%E1%83%9D%E1%83%91%E1%83%94%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1-%E1%83%92%E1%83%96%E1%83%90%E1%83%95%E1%83%9C%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98/33286271.html |website=რადიო თავისუფლება}}</ref> According to the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, Mzia Amaghlobeli's life is in danger {{as of|2025|01|27|lc=yes}}.<ref name="Radio Tavisupleba">{{Cite web |date=27 January 2025 |title=მზია ამაღლობელის სიცოცხლეს საფრთხე ემუქრება – საია |trans-title=Mzia Amaglobeli's life is in danger – GYLA |url=https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/33290080.html |website=რადიო თავისუფლება}}</ref>
==See also== *''Batumelebi'' *Mzia Amaglobeli
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Georgian news websites Category:Mass media in Tbilisi Category:Georgian-language websites Category:Russian-language websites Category:Internet in Georgia (country) Category:2010 establishments in Georgia (country)